Fractal Deinonychus

A reconstruction by Bonnie Dalzell, MA

These illustrations were produced in 1993 to accompany a 'Jurassic Park' exhibit at the
Philadelphia Academy of Sciences.

The Deinonychus illustration was produced by digitizing a drawing of a
Deinonychus skeleton
and restoring the musculature based on that of modern
reptiles and birds in combination with an examination of the muscular processes
on the illustrated fossil skeleton.

After a fleshed out version of the animal
was obtained a variety of fractal patterns were examined as sources of the
animal's color pattern.
The most pleasing results from both an aesthetic and a
"convincing" stand point were obtained with enlarged portions of the Fractal
Mandelbrot set. The two Mandelbrot Fractal Deinonychi:
Black Fractal Deinonychus
and Eureka Deinonychus
were produced using a Commodore Amiga 2000 (r) computer.